European battery recycling is set to be shaken up after the UK’s Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) re-classified the definition of ‘portable’ to exempt anything over 4Kg.
Two years after the revision was first mooted, and following a consultation this year, the current 4-10kg ‘grey area’ is due to be removed from the Government Guidance on the Waste Batteries Regulations 2009.
The move will standardise the weight criteria applied along the supply chain, from producers, treatment operators and import/exporters. It will also bring the UK position in line with the intention of the European Batteries Directive.
A DEFRA statement read: “This change only applies to the interpretation of hand-carriability. A battery under 4kg may still be industrial if it is designed exclusively for industrial use.”
The re-classification, which applies from January 2016, could lead to fewer lead-acid batteries being counted towards recycling targets.
It could mean more non-lead batteries will need to be recycled in the UK to meet the EU recycling targets, which require 45% of portable batteries to be collected by the end of 2016.
For example, 83% of the UK’s battery recycling obligation was met through the collection of lead-acid batteries, despite making up 8% of the new batteries placed onto the market in 2012, according to DEFRA.
The change was announced in a post on the National Packaging Waste Database.
